(AURN News) — Speakers at the homegoing service for civil rights leader Jesse Louis Jackson recalled the chants and phrases that defined his decades of activism.
“Run, Jesse, run. We celebrate that today. Jesse Louis Jackson fought the fight, and he finished the race,” one speaker said, recalling the chant that followed Jackson during his historic presidential campaigns.
Another tribute described him as “the deal maker for the disenfranchised, the power broker for the people. The shadow senator. I am somebody.”
Those words echoed inside House of Hope in Chicago as mourners gathered to honor the civil rights icon whose decades of activism reshaped political power.
Jackson, founder of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition and a two-time presidential candidate, spent decades fighting for civil rights, voting access and economic justice, helping expand Black political power across the United States.
The service was officiated by the Rev. James Meeks and Dr. Charles Jenkins, with prayers from the Rev. Michael Pfleger and the Rev. Otis Moss III. Tributes were delivered by former President Barack Obama, the Rev. Al Sharpton, former Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Joe Biden, along with musical selections from Jennifer Hudson, Hezekiah Walker and Marvin Sapp.
His final celebration of life will be held Saturday, March 7, at the Rainbow PUSH Coalition headquarters in Chicago, where Jackson built much of his political movement.
Click play to listen to the report from AURN White House Correspondent Ebony McMorris. For more news, follow @E_N_McMorris & @aurnonline.
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